Golden Rams exact revenge on Bloomsburg

WEST GOSHEN – What happened in the first half of West Chester’s otherwise dominant 12-5 conference opening women’s lacrosse victory against Bloomsburg on Wednesday at Vonnie Gros Field was proof that a team can actually be too hyped up for an opponent.

It’s easy to understand why the second-ranked Golden Rams were so jazzed to face the No. 13 Huskies when you consider that WCU lost two close meetings with BU a year ago, including a devastating 15-11 setback in the semifinals of the conference tournament. The Huskies went on to win the 2012 PSAC title, and the Rams have been plotting revenge for the ensuing 10-plus months.

“What motivated us is that they beat us and they aren’t even on our level,” said senior All-American defender Theresa Giunta. “We know we beat ourselves against them last year.”

All of that pent up motivation wound up being counterproductive in the early going as Bloomsburg scored first, and then added three of the last four to pull within one, 5-4, at halftime.

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“Our biggest upsets were against (Bloomsburg) last season. We didn’t even need a talk before the game,” said senior attacker Nicole Pyle.

“We were just so fired up for a long time for this game,” acknowledged West Chester head coach Ginny Martino. “For it to finally be upon us, it was like we were almost handcuffed.”

In the final 30 minutes, however, the Rams refocused and looked like the nation’s No. 2 team. Senior midfielder Lauren Glassey scored off a free position less than a minute into the second half, and then moments later, Pyle scored her second goal after taking a pass from teammate Tori Dugan (two goals, three assists), and the floodgates seemed to open.

West Chester wound up outscoring the Huskies 7-1 in the final period, and improved to 4-0 for the season. Bloomsburg fell to 2-4.

“We were ready for this game but it took us a while to get started,” Giunta explained. “Our nerves got to us a little bit, but in the second half we played West Chester lacrosse, we were patient with the ball, and we were aggressive. When we do that, we don’t think anybody can stop us.”

And, perhaps, most telling of all came when WCU went on a 5-0 scoring binge in the final 10 minutes of action, with Glassey, Dugan and Sarah Dennison finding the net, and freshman Haley Nelson adding two goals.

“We pulled together and played confident. We all felt it and at the end we knew we could keep scoring goals,” Pyle said.

“We were frantic in the first half, were pushed out of our game plan a bit and some nerves contributed to it,” Martino added. “We did some uncharacteristic things, which gave them lots of opportunities and (Bloomsburg) capitalized.

“But once we fully settled down in the last 10 minutes of the second half, it sure looked nice.”

Jamie Dolan and Hanna Cowan also notched goals for WCU, which wound up plus-13 in shots and plus-10 in ground balls. Goaltender Jess Henderson was also at her best in the second half as she registered six of her eight saves.

“Jess was a huge part of it,” Martino said. “The saves she was making were unbelievable. So kudos to her, and the defense in front of her.”

The Rams return to action at Gros Field on Saturday (1 p.m.) against PSAC foe Millersville.